Optical recording media, such as CDs, DVDs or Blue Disc, are frequently bent radially outwards, upwards or downwards and can neither be recorded on nor replayed by means of a conventional scanning device which guides the scanning beam exclusively on the track and in the focus direction of the recording medium. This is particularly applicable to recording media which are composed of a number of layers, such as DVDs. Recording media which are curved from the inside to the outside are also referred to as umbrella disks, owing to the curvature. The surface of a disk such as this has an inclination, which is referred to as radial tilt, with respect to a plane, so that it is necessary to tilt the scanning device or the actuator in order to align the scanning beam at right angles to the recording medium, since optimum recording or replay of information is ensured only when the scanning beam is aligned at right angles to the recording medium. Recording medium curvature, which is known in the German language by the expression Plattenschlag [disk impact] and is repeated with each revolution of the recording medium generally leads to both a radial tilt and tangential tilt. An appliance for aligning the scanning beam at right angles to the recording medium by tilting the scanning device is already known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,034,939. In this appliance, the error rate in a data signal which is read from the recording medium is used for alignment at right angles and/or in order to vary the inclination of the scanning beam. A minimum error rate in this case corresponds to optimum tilt correction. Furthermore, a tilt servo circuit is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,001,690, by means of which the inclination angle of the scanning beam is varied in order to achieve a maximum level of the reproduced information signal or HF signal which is detected from the recording medium. However, the error rate and the level of the HF signal are dependent not only on the tilt but also on numerous other factors, such as scratches, so-called black dots, the depth of the pits, the reflection level of the disk and any focus offset. In particular, scratches and other factors which influence the detected radio-frequency signal in addition to the inclination of the scanning beam, lead, however, to unnecessary correction of the inclination angle, which has a disadvantageous influence on the scanning or recording of information as a result of discrepancies from an alignment at right angles to the recording medium. Furthermore, the direction of the change in the inclination angle is determined only after a previous change to the inclination angle and after the error rate or the HF level has increased or decreased, so that an incorrect direction may be chosen first of all and it is impossible to correct the inclination angle immediately. Furthermore, the central processor unit of the appliance is loaded by the determination of the direction of the change of the inclination angle as a function of the increase or decrease in the error rate or in the level of the HF signal. In order to exclude from the inclination control process those factors which, in addition to the inclination of the scanning beam, influence the detected radio-frequency signal, additional inclination sensors have also already been used for inclination control, but these involve additional complexity.